ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $117.93, but opened at $113.56. ESAB shares last traded at $116.74, with a volume of 14,650 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESAB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered shares of ESAB from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 target price (up previously from $138.00) on shares of ESAB in a research note on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of ESAB from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on ESAB from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ESAB has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.43.

ESAB Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $125.75 and its 200-day moving average is $109.73.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.13. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 9.47%. The company had revenue of $673.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $620.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ESAB Co. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ESAB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. ESAB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevin J. Johnson sold 5,044 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $630,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,429,125. This represents a 30.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rhonda L. Jordan sold 4,254 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.03, for a total transaction of $531,877.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 68,418 shares of company stock valued at $8,431,773. 7.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in ESAB by 21.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,900,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,001,000 after purchasing an additional 337,983 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of ESAB by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,081,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,989,000 after buying an additional 271,459 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in ESAB by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,160,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,353,000 after buying an additional 190,583 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in ESAB in the third quarter valued at $15,110,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in ESAB by 6.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,196,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,512,000 after acquiring an additional 127,714 shares during the period. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ESAB

ESAB Corporation engages in the formulation, development, manufacture, and supply of consumable products and equipment for use in cutting, joining, automated welding, and gas control equipment. Its comprehensive range of welding consumables includes electrodes, cored and solid wires, and fluxes using a range of specialty and other materials; and cutting consumables comprising electrodes, nozzles, shields, and tips.